Written by Alister de Ternant
The UK's political landscape has experienced significant turmoil for decades, largely due to systemic issues rather than individual political persuasions.
Setting politics aside, the UK remains a global hub of creativity, innovation, and technological advancement. However, as I write this amidst a delayed train ride with malfunctioning air conditioning and ageing carriages, reminiscent of another era, it's clear there are day-to-day challenges to address.
As a creative events agency, team AE is proud to support leading global brands and startups across diverse industries. We closely monitor political and economic developments to ensure we are forward-thinking in our approaches.
Here are 10 priorities our clients seek and what AE believes the next government should focus on to help our industry thrive, in no particular order:
1. An economic and financial structure that attracts and supports international firms to inwardly invest and remain in the UK.
2. An educational structure that is socially mobile and recognises Events, Marketing and Hospitality as a professional service profession and that supports individuals pathways to ensuring we have the best workforce in this area in the world.
3. Prompt payments: implementing a requirement that all organisations, large and small, pay their invoices within 30 days of receipt would significantly improve the operating climate.
4. Global trade: recognising that our operations and stage are global, facilitating international trade and easier access to broader markets is crucial.
5. Levelling ‘down’: labour in our industry is ironically cheaper in the major conurbations (like London and Birmingham) as the market is (generally) flooded. This makes it harder and more expensive to remain competitive and attract the best talent outside of these areas.
6. Tax breaks and financial support on developing entrepreneurial businesses in our sector - this has been universally lost as part of the UK exiting the EU and schemes like ERDF falling away, when we still contribute a significant amount to local and national employment and GDP.
7. Competitive edge: although simple economics dictates that price of goods and labour has increased, whilst expenditure (from clients) on events and marketing has reduced (proportionately) - our ability to remain competitive therefore is tricky and we are therefore having to be more creative every day to bridge this gap - making the UK and its assets not always the first choice!
8. Bold support: backing firms bidding for international and inward opportunities to bring new work, creativity, and global recognition to the UK, solidifying our leadership position.
9. Service the debt: we have trillions of pounds of debt and the UK cannot even service the interest associated with this debt. A government that can balance today's realities with tomorrow’s future is one we will all vote for.
10. Innovation: the best firms innovate, create and produce results, but a catalyst and advancement to this is capital. Putting innovation in our sector at the forefront of investment, will pay dividends.
Not one of the political parties will ever deliver this as a manifesto nor appreciate the importance of the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) or C&IT (Conferences and Incentive Travel) markets in full. That said, the indisputable importance of the headlines above, if actioned, may at least help make the trains run on time! Let's see what lies beyond the 4th of July.
Thank you C&IT for featuring Alister in your election related blog! Take a read here
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